Case Number 12676

THE TUDORS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON

The Charge

"You think you know a story, but you only know how it ends. To get to
the heart of the story, you have to go back to the beginning."

Opening Statement

When most people think of King Henry VIII, the first thing that comes to mind
is that goddam annoying song by Herman's Hermits. The second thing that comes to
mind is the image of a fat slob of a king -- dressed in fine clothing, yet
holding a chalice full of wine in one hand and a greasy leg of lamb in the
other. But, as most historians love pointing out -- this image was only valid
during the king's later years. When he first became king, Henry was young and
studly. He spent as much time participating in various sports as he did his
kingly duties. Plus, he was a sex symbol, and stories of his various romances
and affairs were the stuff of British tabloid dreams.

This is the take on Henry seen in Showtime's The Tudors. The
10-episode The Tudors: The Complete First Season is now on DVD with a
four-disc set. It's the story of a hotheaded king, his court full of shifting
alliances, and the woman who he'd be willing to risk his kingdom for.

* Sir Thomas More (Jeremy Northam, Gosford Park), a writer and
humanist who coined the phrase "utopia." He is a friend to the king
and often acts as the king's conscience.

* Thomas Boleyn (Nick Dunning, Alexander), a newcomer to the king's
court, he quickly become a valued friend to Henry, for more reasons than
one.

* Charles Brandon (Henry Cavill, Stardust) and Anthony Knivert
(Callum Blue, Dead Like Me), friends of the king -- his
"entourage," if you will.

* Queen Katharine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy, The Commitments),
the king's estranged wife, for they were married more for political reasons than
romantic.

* Princess Margaret (Gabrielle Anwar, Scent of a Woman), the king's
sister, doomed to an arraigned marriage with the elderly, decrepit king of
Portugal. She only has eyes for the king's friend Charles, though.

* Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer, Casanova), young, feisty, a little
sneaky, and unendingly beautiful, she's a commoner, but she catches Henry's eye,
and he believes she is his one true love. Too bad about the "he's already
married" thing.

The Evidence

What we have here is the latest entry in the always popular "rich people
being naughty" genre. This is when we the viewers get inside looks into the
lives of the wealthy and privileged, where the characters live impossibly
extravagant lifestyles, but ultimately end up making costly, self-destructive
decisions that leave them unhappy and/or ruined. And if the characters are
royalty, then that's all the better. Why do these stories have such power over
audiences? Is it a wish-fulfillment thing, where the average viewer longs to
reside in mansions and palaces? Or is it the opposite, as the viewer secretly
smiles with perverse glee as those snobbish aristocrats see their world crumble
around them? Either way, The Tudors will provide both decadence and
debauchery in equal doses.

For an allegedly micro-budgeted production, The Tudors looks as grand
and lush as you'd expect a tale of kings and queens to be. Architecture and
fashion during the Tudor period was often sparse, so the visuals have been
"pushed forward," according to the bonus features, by including some
early Renaissance influences. The result is that there's so shortage of details
to drool over when inspecting the clothes and sets. Also, filming the series in
Ireland gave the creators a chance to use actual historic buildings and sweeping
green plains to fill in for England and other European settings, giving the
series a real "feature-film" quality look to it.

Breathtaking sets and scenery aren't enough to recreate history, though.
Fortunately, The Tudors has a solid stable of actors to walk through the
gigantic sets and bring life to them. At the center of it all is, of course,
Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the king. His first big scene has him sitting on the
throne, all regal and proper-like, going over news of the kingdom, making
crucial decisions and assigning various tasks to members of his court. He then
stands and announces that he's off "to play." From there, we see Henry
living it up with his buddies. Hunting, jousting, and even tennis are among
their "play." And then there are the women. Oohh, the women. As king,
Henry can simply order any woman he wishes into his bed. And they all go for it,
not because they're afraid of being accused of treason, but because he's the
super-studly king.

Rhys Meyers makes it clear that Henry is more than just a party animal.
Henry does take his office seriously, in his own way. Early on, Henry mentions
one of his predecessors, Henry V, whose fame spread after his against-odds
victory against the French. Henry expresses a desire to be remembered like that,
as a great king, a hero. This is the legacy that he wants to leave behind, along
with a male heir, of course. It's this desire that drives Henry in everything he
does. At least, at first. What makes Henry such a compelling figure in this
series is how he is a slave to his impulses. Just after he's signed a peace
treaty that could have meant an end to war throughout Europe, he rescinds it
after his pride is wounded, just in time to sign a similar treaty with a
potentially more powerful ally.

Henry's perspective quickly changes, though, once he sets his hungry eyes on
Anne Boleyn. The show's creators could not have found a more perfect Anne than
Natalie Dormer. With a lesser actress, it might never have been believable that
a woman would not only stand up to Henry but even play hard-to-get. You'd think
she'd get beheaded for acting like that. (But don't fret -- there will be
beheadings.) Instead of just ordering Anne to his bed, Henry must instead woo
her. He writes her love letters, he gives her expensive jewelry, and he doesn't
let up. He insists that he loves her, and that she'd be more than just another
mistress, but a future queen. Perhaps it's because she's playing
hard-to-get, but it's probably because she's easily the prettiest girl Henry
(and we at home) have ever seen. Dormer is one of those performers who can say
it all with just a look. One look into her alluring eyes and you can just tell
what she's thinking or feeling. Looking at Dormer and seeing her feisty
performance, it's believed that Anne really can bewitch the heart of a king.

Anne and Henry's love doesn't come without a price, though. Henry is married
to Katharine, whom he doesn't love and barely even sees. Katharine was briefly
married to Henry's late brother before marrying Henry, and in this
religion-heavy atmosphere, that move required special permission from the Pope.
Henry must now obtain similarly special permission in order to divorce Katharine
and marry Anne. The church is holding up the decision doing the bureaucracy
thing, and Katharine is similarly reticent, knowing it's in her best interests
to remain in the king's court. Further complicating matters is that Henry, to
prove his eternal love for Anne, has promised not to, uh, "lie with
her" until after their own marriage. This is the ongoing plot that runs
through most of the episodes on this disc, and as it goes on and on, it gets
more and more intense.

That leads us to the next question, does Anne truly love Henry, or she part
of a bigger picture? Anne's desire for him often feels palpable, and yet she and
her sister were basically pimped to Henry by their father, Thomas Boleyn, so he,
not them, could gain favor from the king. This is the sort of political scheming
that is everywhere in this series. Wolsey does everything the king commands, yet
does so in a way that still leads him to his own goal, a higher-ranking office
in the church. This is a fantastic performance by Sam Neill as Wolsey, one of
the best of his I've seen. There are plenty of others scheming against Wolsey,
hoping to remove him from the king's side. Caught up in all of this is the
king's desire for a divorce, and who is on what side of the issue. There are
more characters switching sides and deceiving each other in this season than
there were in the first five years of Survivor -- and the characters on
The Tudors do it with better writing.

And there are even more storylines to follow. Jeremy Northam plays it close
to the chest as Thomas More, who is described as a humanist, and one who seeks
the positive in any situation. And yet, Martin Luther is out there, somewhere,
gathering a following. This worries many in Henry's court, but none more than
More, who becomes irate at the mention of Luther's name. Meanwhile, there's a
"sweating sickness" killing hundreds if not more throughout London,
and there are fears this new plague will find its way into the court. This leads
to scenes where we are shown just how disgusting the science of medicine was at
the time. Also, a young man named Thomas (Joe Van Moyland, Starter for
10) arrives dressed in rags at the court. It turns out he's a genius
musician, and he soon makes himself at home, performing and composing. Just what
part will he have to play before this is all over?

Do all the many plots and subplots mean The Tudors is hard to follow?
It can be. When Princess Margaret is first introduced several episodes in, I was
all, "Henry has a sister now?" It takes some time to sort out who is
who, who is related to who, and who is loyal to who. This is where having the
entire season on DVD is a boon. Each episode flows right into the next, so
watching them in big blocks of time over a weekend helped me keep everything
straight. The liner notes on the inside of the package on the episode selection
pages also made for some nice "get-caught-up-quick" summaries.

Complimenting the gorgeous production design is a gorgeous digital transfer.
All the many jewels on Henry's formal wear are so finely detailed that you can
make out each one. The red of Wolsey's robes also stands out from in contrast
from the background. The 5.1 sound is perhaps not as booming as we've come to
expect from the best tracks out there, but it still works nicely. Two
featurettes cover the production design and costumes, offering quick looks
behind the scenes. A little better is a tour of the actual sites where some
scenes in the show took place, narrated by a scholarly-type guy. It's
interesting, but I can't help but wonder if more could be done regarding the
actual history. Writer/producer Michael Hirst (Elizabeth) pulled a
Babylon 5 with this series by writing every episode himself, so he
obviously has a strong interest in this subject. And yet, there are no
commentaries, extended interviews, etc. A lot more could be said about this
show, I'm sure. Instead, the other extras are episodes of other showtime series
This American Life, Californication and Penn and Teller
BS!. You can also use these discs with your computer to watch streaming
episodes of other Showtime hits, including Dexter, via something called
"N-Technology." I couldn't get it to work on my computer, but my
computer is an ancient, virus-ridden piece of hippo droppings. I'm sure anyone
with a competent computer will have better luck than I did.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Nitpicks: * I'm too tired to go through all the historical anachronisms
one by one. You have to make allowances for shows like this that some aspects of
history will be modernized so we can follow what's happening. That being said,
it stuck out when someone mentioned being "sidelined." Isn't that an
American football metaphor? * The English accents are pretty thick, and
I'm afraid the actors mumble their lines from time to time. Too bad there are no
subtitles. * The packaging mislabels the discs. It says Disc Two has
episodes four through seven and Disc Three has episodes eight and nine. But in
reality, the discs have three episodes each. I guess this doesn't really matter
in the bigger scheme of things, but errors on packaging make baby Elizabeth I
cry.

Closing Statement

Great acting, captivating story, lavish production design, and lots of
sexiness -- no need to lock this one in the tower.